Nagas are generally imaginative and have a unique sense of creativity. If there is one thing that is dampening the young Naga minds from employing their imagination and sense of creativity, it is lack of motivation. A demotivated mind or person is no better than those who lack imagination and creativity. Thus, the most important thing that the young people need today is motivation.
Unfortunately, elders and leaders alike, as well as teachers and educators, even the parents included, fail to motivate the young minds. As such, the otherwise vibrant minds of the young, imaginative minds brimming with creativity are often left unattended. Lost in the process, we don’t know how many ideas, some of which could possibly have been groundbreaking, never come to fruition. It is in this context that all the schools in Mokokchung are requested to take the INSPIRE Awards-MANAK Scheme seriously.
A groundbreaking, revolutionary innovation or an ingenious novel idea could be lying latent in the unassuming young mind in your school, waiting for an opportunity to take flight! Here, the various schools and student organizations are also requested to ensure that every school in their respective areas are encouraged to participate and undertake the necessary initiatives to give the students the opportunity offered by the INSPIRE Awards-MANAK Scheme. Often, we ignore or take for granted the various government schemes. However, we should realize that the schemes are only as good as the recipients. A village school child in Mokokchung could become the next innovator of national repute but how will the child become so if not motivated?
For the uninitiated, ‘Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research’ (INSPIRE) scheme is one of the flagship programs of the Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India. The INSPIRE Awards – MANAK (Million Minds Augmenting National Aspirations and Knowledge), being executed by DST with National Innovation Foundation – India (NIF), an autonomous body of DST, aims to motivate students in the age group of 10-15 years and studying in classes 6 to 10.
The objective of the scheme is to target one million original ideas/innovations rooted in science and societal applications to foster a culture of creativity and innovative thinking among school children. As informed by the Nagaland Board of School Education, under this scheme, schools can nominate 2 to 3 best ideas/innovations of students from their schools through the website www.inspireawards-dst.gov.in till 30th September 2022.
It is said that selection of ideas/innovations will be based on novelty, social applicability, environment friendliness, user friendliness and comparative advantage over the existing similar technologies. It is also said that 1,000 best ideas/innovations will be showcased at the National Level Exhibition & Project Competition (NLEPC) and the top 60 innovations will be shortlisted for national awards and future direction. Imagine the innovation of a young student from Mokokchung being shortlisted for the national awards.